


Shades of Black

by Yrindor



Series: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics 2016 Fills [56]
Category: Prince of Stride: Alternative (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Mentioned Yagami Riku, Murder, Prompt Fic, SASO 2016, Supernatural Elements, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 09:24:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7634878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyousuke should have been excited to see Tomoe back in Japan, except this is definitely not the Tomoe he knew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shades of Black

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sports Anime Shipping Olympics 2016 Bonus Round 5 (Myth & Lore). Also fills the "unhappy ending" square for Trope Bingo round 7.

Kyousuke hadn't expected to see Tomoe at the race against Kakyouin; he hadn't even known Tomoe had returned to Japan. The minute he saw Tomoe though, he knew something was horribly wrong.

If he had to pick a color for Tomoe, it would have been black. Black hair, black eyes, black clothes. But it had never been a flat black. Black clothing held areas of shadow in their folds, and Tomoe's eyes had glinted like obsidian, drawing Kyousuke in and promising secrets hidden in their depths.

When he saw Tomoe before the race, Tomoe's eyes were dead. They were flat and lifeless, as if all traces of Tomoe had been removed. He tried to speak to Tomoe, but Tomoe brushed him off stating that he needed to prepare. His voice was as flat and dead as his eyes, and Kyousuke worried.

He worried more during the race, when Tomoe ran with unmatched technical precision and an almost unnatural sense of timing. He didn't know what had happened while Tomoe was away, but whatever it was, it made him uneasy.

That night, Tomoe had belittled the value Kyousuke placed on his teammates and then said goodbye. Kyousuke remembered the times he and Tomoe had run together. He remembered the sense of connection that had run between the two of them, and he fought back tears.

He felt no such connection anymore. In fact, he felt nothing at all from Tomoe. No personality, no emotion, nothing other than an empty shell. He shared his concerns with Heath, who had been hiding in the shadows, and despite Heath's protests, he left to confront Tomoe on his terms.

He found Tomoe in the stands overlooking the Stride course. Riku knelt by his side, and Kyousuke was about to step back outside so as not to interfere with the reunion between brothers when he noticed the horrified look on Riku's face and the way he clutched at Tomoe's hand on his chest.

The moon came out from behind a cloud just then, and suddenly Kyousuke could see the knife in Tomoe's hand, the blade glinting in the moonlight where it buried itself in Riku's chest.

"What have you done, Tomoe?" Kyousuke asked as he stepped forward.

"He was weak," Tomoe said with the same flat affect, pulling the knife from Riku's heart and pushing his brother's body away. "He let his emotions interfere with his training, and he refused to see the error of his ways."

"What happened to you, Tomoe?" Kyousuke asked in horror.

"I learned the secret of Stride," Tomoe replied.

"This isn't Stride," Kyousuke snapped. "Stride is about connecting, about relationships, not whatever this mockery is."

"Stride is about winning. There is nothing else."

"You aren't the Tomoe I knew."

"The Tomoe you knew is gone. The Tomoe before you now is Tomoe as he should have been."

"No," Kyousuke whispered past the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes, "this isn't how it should have been. Do you remember what it felt like when we used to run together? Do you remember the first time we kissed?"

"No," Tomoe responded, seemingly immune to Kyousuke's emotion. "I told you, that Tomoe no longer exists. I know nothing but Stride. Everything else was a distraction; I discarded them."

"What did you do to Tomoe!?" Kyousuke yelled, closing the gap between them and slapping Tomoe hard across the face, startling Tomoe and knocking the knife from his hand.

"I did nothing," the flat voice-that-wasn't-Tomoe replied. "Tomoe requested this himself."

"No," Kyousuke said quietly but fiercely. "I won't accept it!"

"You are a fool if you think that changes anything. I chose Stride; you are nothing to me. Now go before you meet the same end as Riku. Or do you want Honan to be two runners short tomorrow?"

Kyousuke burned with a sudden anger, anger at what had happened to Tomoe, and what Tomoe had done to Riku. "You're not Tomoe," he snapped as he wrapped his arms around Tomoe's neck.

"I am what Tomoe chose," the not-Tomoe rasped before Kyousuke tightened his hold, cutting off Tomoe's air completely.

Tomoe never struggled. Kyousuke watched him the entire time, but he saw no flash of recognition in the flat, lifeless eyes that stared back at him. He wasn't sure how long he waited before he finally released his hold, setting Tomoe's lifeless body down next to his brother's.

"Forgive me, Tomoe," he said as he closed his former teammate's eyes. "I don't know what happened to you, but you deserved better than this."

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.


End file.
